Chapter 5
Agent Reed closed the hospital-room door.
Sergeant Collins moved between him and us.
Detective Morales placed one hand near her holster.
Mom stared at Reed.
Six years of fear seemed to disappear from her face.
“What did Daniel find?” she demanded.
Reed spoke slowly.
“Sarah, this isn’t the place.”
“You made it the place when you walked into my room.”
“Mom?” I whispered.
She didn’t look away from him.
“Daniel told me one thing before he disappeared.”
Reed’s jaw tightened.
“What?”
“He said there was a federal badge in the Cumberland files.”
Nobody moved.
Morales asked, “Whose badge?”
Mom pointed at Reed.
“He thought it was his.”
Reed shook his head.
“No.”
“You told Daniel where to meet you the night he vanished.”
“Because he was delivering evidence.”
“And somebody was waiting for him.”
“I was ambushed too.”
“You never told me that.”
“Because I was ordered not to.”
Collins laughed bitterly.
“That explanation is getting popular today.”
Reed reached slowly inside his jacket.
Morales drew her weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
“I’m taking out my phone.”
“Slowly.”
He placed it on the table.
“Call Assistant Director Wallace.”
Morales didn’t move.
“Why?”
“Ask him who pulled me out of the river six years ago.”
Mom froze.
Reed looked at her.
“Daniel wasn’t the only one attacked.”
He rolled up his sleeve.
A long white scar ran down his arm.
“The people who took Daniel shot me and dumped me from the same bridge.”
Mom stared.
“I woke up in the hospital two days later. By then Daniel was gone.”
“Then why tell me he was dead?”
“Because he contacted us three weeks later.”
My heart jumped.
Dad had survived.
“He agreed to witness protection,” Reed continued. “His condition was that nobody tell the family.”
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
“He believed you were being watched.”
“By Ryan?”
“We didn’t know who.”
I remembered the picture in Ryan’s basement.
Mom pregnant.
Dad beside her.
Ryan watching from across the street.
“Ryan had been watching us before Lucy was born.”
Mom’s eyes filled with fear.
Reed nodded.
“That makes sense.”
“So Ryan worked for Cumberland?”
“Ryan worked for whoever paid him.”
Morales asked about the message on television.
“One traitor for another.”
Reed sighed.
“Daniel may believe Ryan can identify the person who betrayed him.”
“Do you know who?”
“No.”
Collins folded his arms.
“And we’re supposed to trust you?”
“No. Verify everything.”
He pushed his phone toward Morales.
“You should.”
Morales took it.
Then Mom asked the question that mattered.
“Where’s Daniel?”
“We don’t know.”
The room erupted.
Mom shouted.
I shouted.
Even Collins swore.
Reed raised his voice.
“Six weeks ago, he left protection without permission.”
“Why?”
“He received a package.”
“What package?”
“A photograph of Ethan leaving school.”
My stomach turned.
Reed looked at me.
“Someone had written an address on the back.”
Ryan’s address.
Our house.
Dad had learned where we were.
He came to Nashville.
But he never came home.
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“He didn’t want to see us?”
“I think he was trying to protect you.”
I hated that answer.
Adults used protection to explain everything.
Lies.
Secrets.
Leaving.
Silence.
Before I could respond, Detective Morales’ phone rang.
It was the hospital downstairs.
Charlotte Bennett had regained consciousness.
Morales hurried out.
I followed.
Mom tried to stop me.
“Ethan.”
“I need to know.”
Lucy climbed off the bed.
“Me too.”
“No.”
Lucy crossed her arms.
“I found the room.”
Mom almost argued.
Then she stopped.
Ten minutes later, Morales spoke to Charlotte.
I watched through the glass.
Charlotte looked tiny in the hospital bed.
Her face was pale.
An IV ran into her arm.
A social worker sat beside her.
Morales asked gentle questions.
Charlotte barely responded.
Then Morales showed her Ryan’s photograph.
Charlotte began shaking.
“No.”
“You’re safe.”
“No!”
She ripped the oxygen clip from her finger.
“He’ll come back!”
“He’s in police custody.”
Charlotte stared at Morales.
Then said, “Ryan isn’t the boss.”
Morales leaned closer.
“Who is?”
Charlotte looked toward the glass.
Directly at me.
Her eyes widened.
She pointed.
“That boy.”
I stepped backward.
Morales turned.
“Ethan?”
Charlotte cried harder.
“That’s Daniel’s son.”
How did she know?
Morales opened the door.
Charlotte whispered, “He looks like him.”
I walked closer.
“You know my dad?”
She nodded.
My chest tightened.
“Where is he?”
Charlotte looked toward every corner of the room.
“He helped us.”
“Us?”
“Me and Noah.”
“Where’s Noah?”
She began sobbing.
“I don’t know.”
The passports had belonged to both Bennett children.
Only Charlotte had been found.
“Ryan took him away.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Morales asked, “Where?”
Charlotte shook her head.
“He said Noah was going to meet the buyer.”
Mom made a broken sound behind me.
The social worker tried to end the interview.
Charlotte grabbed my wrist.
“Your dad told me you’d come.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He said if anything happened, find Ethan Parker.”
I couldn’t understand.
Dad knew about Charlotte.
He knew about Ryan.
He knew me.
“Where did you see him?”
“In the machine shop.”
Morales stiffened.
“When?”
“Three nights ago.”
“He was there?”
Charlotte nodded.
“He came through the back door.”
“What happened?”
“He fought Ryan.”
She said Dad tried to free them.
But another man arrived.
A man Charlotte never saw clearly.
He wore a suit.
Ryan called him “Chief.”
The man had a gun.
Dad escaped.
Ryan moved Noah the next morning.
“Did Daniel say anything else?”
Charlotte looked at me.
“He gave me something.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
Charlotte reached beneath the hospital blanket.
Nothing.
Panic crossed her face.
“It’s gone.”
“What was it?”
“A little black drive.”
Morales looked at the nurse.
“Was anything recovered with her?”
The nurse checked a property bag.
Clothing.
A bracelet.
Hair clip.
Nothing else.
Charlotte shook her head.
“I hid it in my shoe.”
Morales called the officers from the rescue scene.
Her face darkened.
Charlotte’s shoes had been collected.
Then disappeared from evidence transport.
Someone had stolen them.
Someone connected to law enforcement.
Reed cursed.
Mom looked at him.
“The badge.”
He nodded.
The traitor was still inside.
That evening, federal agents took control of the hospital floor.
Nobody was allowed in without verification.
Ryan was moved to a secure facility.
Caleb reunited with his mother.
Charlotte stayed under guard.
And somewhere, Noah Bennett was still missing.
At 10:17 p.m., two hours before the deadline, the power went out.
Emergency lights flashed.
A nurse screamed in the hallway.
Gunshots followed.
Officer Carter shoved us into Mom’s bathroom.
“Lock it!”
“What about you?”
“Lock it, Ethan!”
I pulled Lucy inside.
Mom was still attached to an IV.
She ripped it from her arm and followed.
The bathroom door locked.
Outside, people shouted.
Then silence.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Heavy.
Someone tried the handle.
Lucy covered her mouth.
The handle stopped moving.
A voice came through the door.
“Sarah.”
Mom went white.
She knew the voice.
“Open the door.”
I whispered, “Who is it?”
Mom’s eyes filled with terror.
The voice continued.
“You’ve caused enough trouble.”
Mom backed against the wall.
“Chief Harris.”
My stomach dropped.
I knew that name.
Everyone in Nashville did.
Deputy Police Chief Robert Harris.
He had appeared on television after Dad disappeared.
He had stood beside Mom at a press conference.
He had promised to find him.
Now he was outside our bathroom.
“Open the door,” Harris said.
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
A gunshot blasted through the lock.
Lucy screamed.
The door swung open.
A man in a suit entered.
Gray hair.
Police badge.
Gun in his hand.
He smiled at us.
Then his eyes landed on me.
“Daniel’s boy.”
Mom stood in front of us.
“You betrayed him.”
Harris shrugged.
“Your husband should’ve minded his own business.”
He raised the gun.
Before he could fire, the bathroom window shattered behind us.
A hand reached through.
Then a man climbed inside.
Beard.
Blood on his shirt.
Gun in his hand.
He looked older than the photograph.
But I knew him immediately.
May you like
Dad aimed at Harris.
“Step away from my family.”
